Page 25 - 2016 Intertek Enrollment Guide
P. 25
The Plan’s Duty to Safeguard Your Protected Health Information
Individually identiiable information about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of health care to you, or
payment for the health care is considered “Protected Health Information” (“PHI”). The Plan is required to extend certain protections
to your PHI, and to give you this Notice about its privacy practices that explains how, when, and why the Plan may use or disclose
your PHI. Except in speciied circumstances, the Plan may use or disclose only the minimum necessary PHI to accomplish the
purpose of the use or disclosure.
The Plan is required to follow the privacy practices described in this Notice, though it reserves the right to change those practices
and the terms of this Notice at any time. If it does so, and the change is material, you will receive a revised version of this Notice
either by hand delivery, mail delivery to your last known address, or some other fashion. This Notice, and any material revisions
of it, will also be provided to you in writing upon your request (ask your Human Resources representative, or contact the Plan’s
Privacy Oficial, described below), and will be posted on any website maintained by Intertek that describes beneits available to
employees and dependents.
You may also receive one or more other privacy notices from insurance companies that provide beneits under the Plan. Those
notices will describe how the insurance companies use and disclose PHI and your rights with respect to the PHI they maintain.
How the Plan May Use and Disclose Your Protected Health Information
The Plan uses and discloses PHI for a variety of reasons. For its routine uses and disclosures it does not require your
authorization, but for other uses and disclosures, your authorization (or the authorization of your personal representative (e.g., a
person who is your custodian, guardian, or has your power-of-attorney) may be required. The following offers more description and
examples of the Plan’s uses and disclosures of your PHI.
Uses and disclosures relating to treatment, payment, or health care operations
Treatment: generally, and as you would expect, the Plan is permitted to disclose your PHI for purposes of your medical
treatment. Thus, it may disclose your PHI to doctors, nurses, hospitals, emergency medical technicians, pharmacists,
and other health care professionals where the disclosure is for your medical treatment. For example, if you are injured in
an accident, and it’s important for your treatment team to know your blood type, the Plan could disclose that PHI to the
team in order to allow it to more effectively provide treatment to you.
Payment: of course, the Plan’s most important function, as far as you are concerned, is that it pays for all or some of
the medical care you receive (provided the care is covered by the Plan). In the course of its payment operations, the
Plan receives a substantial amount of PHI about you. For example, doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies that provide
you care send the Plan detailed information about the care they provided, so that they can be paid for their services.
The Plan may also share your PHI with other plans, in certain cases. For example, if you are covered by more than one
health care plan (e.g., covered by this Plan and your spouse’s plan or covered by the plans covering your father and
mother), we may share your PHI with the other plans to coordinate payment of your claims.
Health Care Operations: the Plan may use and disclose your PHI in the course of its “health care operations.” For
example, it may use your PHI in evaluating the quality of services you received or disclose your PHI to an accountant
or attorney for audit purposes. In some cases, the Plan may disclose your PHI to insurance companies for purposes of
obtaining various insurance coverage. However, the Plan will not disclose, for underwriting purposes, PHI that is genetic
information.
25
Individually identiiable information about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of health care to you, or
payment for the health care is considered “Protected Health Information” (“PHI”). The Plan is required to extend certain protections
to your PHI, and to give you this Notice about its privacy practices that explains how, when, and why the Plan may use or disclose
your PHI. Except in speciied circumstances, the Plan may use or disclose only the minimum necessary PHI to accomplish the
purpose of the use or disclosure.
The Plan is required to follow the privacy practices described in this Notice, though it reserves the right to change those practices
and the terms of this Notice at any time. If it does so, and the change is material, you will receive a revised version of this Notice
either by hand delivery, mail delivery to your last known address, or some other fashion. This Notice, and any material revisions
of it, will also be provided to you in writing upon your request (ask your Human Resources representative, or contact the Plan’s
Privacy Oficial, described below), and will be posted on any website maintained by Intertek that describes beneits available to
employees and dependents.
You may also receive one or more other privacy notices from insurance companies that provide beneits under the Plan. Those
notices will describe how the insurance companies use and disclose PHI and your rights with respect to the PHI they maintain.
How the Plan May Use and Disclose Your Protected Health Information
The Plan uses and discloses PHI for a variety of reasons. For its routine uses and disclosures it does not require your
authorization, but for other uses and disclosures, your authorization (or the authorization of your personal representative (e.g., a
person who is your custodian, guardian, or has your power-of-attorney) may be required. The following offers more description and
examples of the Plan’s uses and disclosures of your PHI.
Uses and disclosures relating to treatment, payment, or health care operations
Treatment: generally, and as you would expect, the Plan is permitted to disclose your PHI for purposes of your medical
treatment. Thus, it may disclose your PHI to doctors, nurses, hospitals, emergency medical technicians, pharmacists,
and other health care professionals where the disclosure is for your medical treatment. For example, if you are injured in
an accident, and it’s important for your treatment team to know your blood type, the Plan could disclose that PHI to the
team in order to allow it to more effectively provide treatment to you.
Payment: of course, the Plan’s most important function, as far as you are concerned, is that it pays for all or some of
the medical care you receive (provided the care is covered by the Plan). In the course of its payment operations, the
Plan receives a substantial amount of PHI about you. For example, doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies that provide
you care send the Plan detailed information about the care they provided, so that they can be paid for their services.
The Plan may also share your PHI with other plans, in certain cases. For example, if you are covered by more than one
health care plan (e.g., covered by this Plan and your spouse’s plan or covered by the plans covering your father and
mother), we may share your PHI with the other plans to coordinate payment of your claims.
Health Care Operations: the Plan may use and disclose your PHI in the course of its “health care operations.” For
example, it may use your PHI in evaluating the quality of services you received or disclose your PHI to an accountant
or attorney for audit purposes. In some cases, the Plan may disclose your PHI to insurance companies for purposes of
obtaining various insurance coverage. However, the Plan will not disclose, for underwriting purposes, PHI that is genetic
information.
25
